GRAND RAPIDS BALLET 2011-2012 SEASON
COMPANY DANCERS
Sadie Brown
Chelsea Clow
is enjoying her sixth year as a company dancer after dancing one year as an apprentice. She started her training with Mary Celeste Geiger in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and continued training in Chicago at Salt Creek Ballet and Faubourg School of Ballet. She was accepted to and has attended programs with American Ballet Theatre New York, Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, and the Julliard School. Some of Chelsea’s other accomplishments include Third Place Regional Finalist at the 2003 Youth America Grand Prix as well as scholarships with Milwaukee School of Ballet and Ballet Hispanico. She was a member of the Underground Arts Connection under the direction of Terry Fox and has performed lead roles with Schaumburg Dance Ensemble. Chelsea is also a member of the Dance Department Faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.
Kateryna Derechyna
is originally from the Ukraine where she began her ballet studies, receiving a full scholarship from Odessa Ballet Academy under teacher Elvira Karavaeva. While there, Kateryna performed in the Odessa Opera Ballet House with the main company and in school productions. In 1997 she was invited to the International Competition in Kiev where she won first place in the senior category. Kateryna came to the United States to compete in the 2000 Youth American Grand Prix in New York from which she was awarded a scholarship to the Harid Conservatory Summer Program. She was then given a full scholarship to continue training at Harid for two school years. She danced as a soloist with Columbia Classical Ballet and performed as a guest artist with North Carolina Dance Theatre. Her leading roles include Valse Fantaisie, Serenade, Carmina Burana, La Bayadere, The Miraculous Mandarin, Jekyll & Hyde, Prodigal Son, Paquita and Who Cares. This is Kateryna’s seventh season with the Grand Rapids Ballet.
Dawnell Dryja
is a Michigan native now in her tenth season with the Grand Rapids Ballet. She previously danced with Tulsa Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Dayton Ballet, and Metropolitan Ballet Theatre of Detroit. Dawnell was trained under her mother, Dawn Greene. She has danced a variety of roles including Titania from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Odette/Odile from Swan Lake, Stanton Welch’s Fingerprints, Lila York’s Celts and Rapture, Paul Taylor's Company B, Lew Christiansen's Con Amore and Il Distratto, Le Corsaire pas de deux, Don Quixote pas de deux, Paquita, and numerous Balanchine ballets such as Allegro Brilliante, Four Temperaments, Divertimento No. 15, Who Cares?, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, Concerto Barocco, and Jewels. Some of her favorite roles at Grand Rapids Ballet include Swanhilda from Coppelia, and roles from Gordon Peirce Schmidt's ballets such as Della from The Gift of the Magi, Tinkerbell in Peter Pan, and Princess Jasmine in Aladdin and performing live with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Dawnell has had the opportunity to work with esteemed choreographers and teachers such as Nils Christe, Frederick Franklin, Kirk Peterson, Val Caniporoli, Suzanne Farrell, and Raymond Lukens to name a few. She has been a teacher at the School of the Grand Rapids Ballet for the past nine years and enjoys working with the students. Dawnell looks forward to another exciting season with the Company.
Connie Flachs
began training at the Massachusetts Academy of Ballet with her parents Rose Marie Wurzer and Charles Flachs. She continued her training on scholarship at summer programs with the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet, the Akhmedova Ballet Academy, Tulsa Ballet, and Houston Ballet. In 2010-2011 she worked as a paid apprentice with the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet Society. Connie received an honorable mention in the 2010 Young Arts competition, won the Grand Prix Award at the 2011 regional Youth American Grand Prix competition and was chosen to perform in the last round of the New York City finals. She is thrilled to begin her first season with Grand Rapids Ballet.
Steven Houser
began his ballet training at the age of 6 in his hometown of Portland, OR. He has studied at Metro Dancers, Portland Community Ballet, Arts and Communication Magnet Academy, and the School of Oregon Ballet Theatre. He also spent summers studying at San Francisco Ballet School, Pacific Northwest Ballet School, and the School of Oregon Ballet Theatre. Steven joined Oregon Ballet Theatre as an apprentice in 2004, was made a full company member in 2005, and was promoted to soloist in 2007. He has danced featured roles in works by George Balanchine, Christopher Stowell, Kent Stowell, Paul Taylor, Helgi Tomasson, Yuri Possokhov, Peter Martins, Julia Adam, Nicolo Fonte, Val Caniparoli, James Kudelka, Christopher Wheeldon, and William Forsythe.
Francis Lawrence
was born in Australia and began his training with the Heidelberg and District Ballet school under the direction of Lorraine Blackbourn. After 14 years, he moved on to the Australian Ballet School where he studied for four years. Whilst at the school, he danced leading roles in the 2007 and 2008 Dancers Company tour of Sleeping Beauty, Act 3 and Graduation Ball. He has also danced in The Australian Ballet Company’s Raymonda, Don Quixote, Nutcracker and Graeme Murphy’s Swan Lake. He has also danced with New York Theatre Ballet in Cinderella and the Agnes De Mille tribute Dance/speak. He has studied in such programs as Alvin Ailey, Complexions and Hubbard Street; getting to work with choreographers such as Pedro Ruiz, Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson. Francis is thrilled to be in his third season with such a nice and talented group of dancers at the Grand Rapids Ballet.
Attila Mosolygo
was born in Kisvarda, Hungary. He received his early training at the National Ballet Institute in Budapest. After moving to the United States, he joined the Joffrey Ballet School. He has performed as a guest artist with Mobile Ballet, Bravo Dance, Harrisburg Ballet, Ballet Theatre of Chicago and the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. This is Attila's fifteenth season with the Grand Rapids Ballet, fourth year as Ballet Master for the Company, and his first year as Artistic Director of the Junior Company. He loves being a father to his beautiful daughter Vivian.
Yuka Oba
was born in Japan where she received her training from Hitomi Takeuchi Ballet School. She later attended English National Ballet School in UK where she danced many soloist roles. Yuka was previously a dancer with Slovak National Theatre and has danced a variety of roles, including Dew Drop and Oriental dance from The Nutcracker. She has also performed the works of James Kudelka, including Fifteen Heterosexual Duets and George Balanchine, including Serenade and Tchaikovsky Pas de deux. Yuka has won many competitions in Japan including NBA All Japan Ballet Competition, Saitama All Japan Dance Competition, UB All Japan Ballet Union Competition and others. This is Yuka’s first season with the Grand Rapids Ballet.
Rachael Riley
is originally from Orlando Florida, where she began her ballet studies under the direction of Judy James and Juan Sanchez. She moved to Manitoba Canda at the age of 17 to further her studies at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. After graduating Rachael moved to Chicago and danced on scholarship at Lou Conte Dance Studio, where she trained under the guidance of Birute Barodicaite. Rachael has also attended summer programs with the Kirov Ballet Academy, Nutmeg Conservatory, and the Joffrey Ballet. She has danced professionally with Luna Negra Dance Theater and as a soloist with Omaha Theater Ballet. Rachael is thrilled to be returning for her third season with the Grand Rapids Ballet.
Stephen Sanford
trained and danced with Ballet Chicago Studio Company under the direction of Dan Duell and Patricia Blair, and with North Carolina School of the Arts under the direction of Duncan Noble. He has also trained with the School of American Ballet and Houston Ballet. Stephen has performed as a guest artist with Tulsa Ballet, St. Louis Ballet, Geiger Ballet and Ballet Chicago. This is Stephen's eleventh season with the Grand Rapids Ballet. He is also a teacher at the SGRBC. He and his wife Jennifer have two daughters, Julia and Elena and a son, Andrew.
Laura McQueen Schultz
Nicholas Schultz
is so thrilled to be returning to Grand Rapids Ballet for his ninth season as a full company member. Nicholas was trained here at the School of the Grand Rapids Ballet starting at the age of seven, and was a member of both the Junior and Senior Trainee programs, as well as an apprentice to the company for one season. He also spent summers with the Joffrey Ballet School and the National Ballet School of Canada. Nicholas has done numerous guestings with local companies such as Farrell Ballet Theatre, Alma College, Flat River Dance Company, Grand Rapids Dance Project and Southhold Ballet Theatre. He is happy to be able to dance with his wife Laura and looks forward to many more seasons to come.
Kyohei Giovanni Yoshida
is originally from Japan where he received his training from the Tokyo Ballet School. He later attended The Rock School for Dance Education in the United States on a full scholarship. Yoshi received the senior bronze award at the 2010 USA International Ballet Competition, Jackson. His other awards include Senior Silver at the Bruno International Ballet Competition, Senior Finalist at the ShangHai International Ballet Competition and many others. Yoshi has been featured in such roles as Don Quixote, Tchaikovsky Pas de deux, Swan Lake, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Flowers of the Forest. Yoshi danced for two years with Slovak National Ballet before coming to Grand Rapids. This is Yoshi's first season as a company member of Grand Rapids Ballet after performing one season as a resident guest artist.
APPRENTICES
Megan DeMuro
is from Muskegon, Michigan and started her ballet training at Ballet Arts in Grand Haven, Michigan with Jefferson Baum. After studying at Ballet Arts, she studied with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School as a Professional Division student. Megan has performed in Cinderella, Swan Lake, Fanfare, Les Sylphides and the world premiere of Salute by Johan Kobborg. She attended summer programs at the School of American Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet School. While at PNB Megan performed with the company in The Nutcracker and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Megan is thrilled to be dancing with the Grand Rapids Ballet for her first year as an apprentice.
Darrell Haggard
is originally from Oakhurst, California where he found his love for dance at Velocity Dance Studio at the age of nine. At the age of 17 he began training on scholarship at the Los Angeles Ballet Academy with Ms. Andrea Paris. Darrell performed lead roles in Coppelia, Alice in Wonderland, A Season's Suite and as a guest Cavalier in The Nutcracker. He also performed with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Memoria. Darrell has also trained with Kee Juan Han at Washington School of Ballet and performed in LABA's award winning ensembles, and as a soloist at YAGP in New York. He is really excited to be starting his professional career with Grand Rapids Ballet where he hopes to reach new heights as an artist.
Mark "Dave" Naquin
Hannah Wilcox
grew up in Valencia, California and began her RAD training at age six at the Santa Clarita Ballet Academy under Corinne Glover, Danica Primo and Carol Guidry. She finished her senior year of high school and continued her ballet training at University of North Carolina School of the Arts under Warren Conover and Nina Danilova. She studied in summer intensives at American Ballet Theatre, Royal Academy of Dance in Long Beach, CA and Miami City Ballet. She recently completed two years' training as a professional division student with Pacific Northwest Ballet and danced in many of their productions including Cinderella, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Glass Pieces. She is proud to begin her professional career as an apprentice with Grand Rapids Ballet.
TRAINEES
Donnelly Ditzhazy
began her training at the age of three in Columbus, Ohio. There she studied all disciplines, including ballet, modern, jazz and lyrical dance, joining the Ballet Academy, under the direction of Bob Cole at the age of 14 and Columbus Ballet Met at the age of 15. She spent summers studying with The Harid Conservatory and others, and in her senior year of High School, studied Classical Ballet at The Joffrey Ballet School, under the direction of Gelsey Kirkland and Misha Chernov. This is Donnelly’s first year at The Grand Rapids Ballet, and she is thrilled to have the opportunity to study with such accomplished professionals.
Miriam Ernest
began her ballet studies at the Southern New Hampshire Dance Theater and continued training at the School of the Grand Rapids Ballet Company. After high school, Miriam danced for two years as a Professional Division student at Pacific Northwest Ballet School on scholarship. While in Seattle, Miriam performed corps de ballet roles with PNB in Kent Stowell's Cinderella and Nutcracker, Jerome Robbins' Glass Pieces, Peter Boal's Giselle, George Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Ronald Hynd's Sleeping Beauty. With PNB School she danced in Balanchine's Chaconne and Western Symphony and originated roles in several ballets. Miriam has attended summer courses on scholarship at Alonzo King's LINES Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Orlando Ballet, Ballet Chicago and Grand Rapids Ballet and has worked with Texture Contemporary Ballet in Pittsburgh. She is thrilled to join Grand Rapids Ballet as a trainee this season.
Tara Gragg
received her early training in her hometown of Flint, MI at the Flint Institute of Music. In 2010 she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in ballet from the University of Oklahoma, where she performed leading roles in ballets by George Balanchine, Bronislava Nijinska, Bruce Wells and Ben Stevenson, as well as dancing in an international tour to Shanghai, China. Tara spent the 2010 - 2011 season as an apprentice with City Ballet of San Diego where she performed in Balanchine's Rubies and Walpurgisnacht Ballet, and as a guest artist with Tulsa Ballet in Twyla Tharp's Push Comes to Shove. She is excited to return to her home state and begin her first season with Grand Rapids Ballet.
Gracie Huber,
from Holland, MI, began her ballet training at age five at Turning Pointe School of Dance under the direction of Lara Bremer Faucher and Rick Faucher. She danced there until graduating high school early to train for several months at the Miami City Ballet School. She has spent summers at Carolina Ballet on scholarship, the Amreican Academy of Dance in Paris, Joffrey Midwest, Joffrey Ballet Chicago and Grand Rapids Ballet, and was accepted into the School of American Ballet's Winter Program. She has also had the privilege of training under many wonderful guest teachers, including Suki Schorer, Cheri Noble, Amanda McKerrow and John Gardner. Gracie is excited for the opportunity to be a trainee with Grand Rapids Ballet!
Cassidy Isaacson
has been studying ballet for fourteen years in her hometown of Redmond, WA. She has performed soloist and pas de deux roles in The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Le Corsaire. She has trained with Deborah Hadley, at Pacific Northwest Ballet, at Long Beach Ballet with David Wilcox and Johnny Zhong where she traveled to China to perform in seven cities. She has also studied at Grand Rapids Ballet and on scholarship at Juilliard in New York. This is Cassidy’s first season as a trainee with Grand Rapids Ballet.
Elizabeth Kelley
is from Port Huron, Michigan where she began her training with the Dance Company Conservatory and Mainstreet Dance Connection. She continued her training at Paavola's School of Dance in Flint, Michigan, where she was part of the Young People's Ballet Theater. Elizabeth spent her summers training at Ballet Met, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater and ABT Detroit and New York. She recently graduated from Grand Valley State University with a BA in Dance, where she performed works choreographed by Melissa Thodos, Thang Dao and was recently in Martha Graham's Appalachian Spring. She has also been a guest artist with the Nutcracker Ballet Theater Company and the Plymouth-Canton Youth Ballet performing the principal role of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Elizabeth is honored to be starting her dance career at the Grand Rapids Ballet.